Efficiency in fundraising and distributions to cause-related social profit enterprises

Managerial efficiency is as important in social profit enterprises (SPEs) as it is for more traditional financial-profit organizations. In this regard, both donors and SPE executives use efficiency information in making decisions. Here, we suggest a linked, two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology for assessing efficiency in both charitable fundraising and cause delivery, while empirically investigating results for international aid organizations. The model allows efficiency assessment for both the fundraising and utilization of generated funds when directed for cause-related purposes. This, in particular, allows for measurement of the organization’s managerial efficiency relative to both multiple phased goals and peer organizations. Additionally, the approach provides benchmarks for identifying sources of improved performance in fundraising and program/cause service delivery. It can also project the results of changes in inputs on the amount of resources available for the charitable organization’s cause.The proposed model(s) allow the examiner to assess performance while, at the same time, identifying those instances wherein the simple ratio measures commonly used in non-profit assessment are (1) deficient, and/or (2) misleading because of the use of ‘incorrect’ variables, or the ‘hiding’ of inefficiency if/when tax form categories are filed by an SPE. Importantly, the suggested two-stage DEA methodology can be useful for any organization with multiple-linked goals.     

The Effects of Consumer Bliss on Welfare Economics

Some developed countries have sought to counteract what they see as unfair competition faced by their domestic industries arising from the employment of child labor in the production of consumer goods in developing countries by including a "social clause" in the World Trade Organization (WTO) charter. Many people and civil society organizations in developed countries are also genuinely concerned with child labor employment purely on humanitarian grounds. In this paper we have argued that a more appropriate approach to tackle the child labor problem would be to facilitate acceleration of growth in developing countries through greater, not less, integration of these countries into the world trading system. We have also argued that directing development assistance for improving institutions and social infrastructure would be more effective than trade sanctions.     

Market Effects of Voluntary Climate Action by Firms: Evidence from the Chicago Climate Exchange

Are private voluntary environmental actions by firms a sign of mismanagement, or a profitable “win-win” replacement for regulation? Empirical evidence is decidedly mixed. In this study, we use 19 years of monthly stock price returns, from 1991 to 2009, to examine the profitability of participation in CCX, a large voluntary greenhouse gas mitigation program. After controlling for systemic market risk as well as industry-specific shocks, we find statistically significant and positive excess returns for firms that announce their decision to join CCX. In addition, the progress of proposed greenhouse gas legislation (the Waxman–Markey bill) had a positive and large impact on excess returns for CCX member firms, suggesting that a major incentive for firms to join CCX may be to prepare for future regulation. Marginal abatement costs (proxied by the carbon price), on the other hand, were unrelated to excess returns. Our results imply that voluntary approaches should play a role in combating climate change, but that relying on them alone is not enough.     

Trade Impacts of China's World Trade Organization Accession

This study examines China's World Trade Organization (WTO) accession commitments and assesses their implications for China and the world using a model reflecting the importance of duty-free intermediate inputs in China's exports. The WTO agreement built on earlier reforms that introduced competition into the trade regime, eliminated nontariff barriers and exchange rate overvaluation, and reduced tariffs. The reforms associated with accession were conservatively estimated to increase global real incomes by $74 billion per year, with $29 billion accruing to China and the remainder primarily to those countries trading directly with China. Some lower-income developing countries faced greater competition from China in third markets.     

Finding a Working Balance Between Competitive and Communal Strategies*

abstract This paper presents a dynamic framework that describes how firms allocate limited resources between improving their competitive position relative to rivals and their communal position shared with rivals. This dynamic framework outlines how organizational field‐level dynamics influence industry attractiveness and thereby alter a firm's incentive to engage in communal strategy relative to competitive strategy. Communal strategy, in turn, can influence the institutions governing an organizational field and thereby shape industry attractiveness. Overall, the interplay between factors exogenous and endogenous to an industry cause change in an organizational field and so determine the nature of the communal environment shared by a firm and its rivals over time. Analysis of this interplay provides insight into the micro‐level drivers of macro‐level change and furthers understanding of the conditions under which rivalrous firms voluntarily contribute to collective betterment of their industry despite collective rationality.     

Six Stakeholding Propositions

Will Hutton is one of the leading proponents of the stakeholding concept. He originally set out his ideas in an earlier book, "The State We're In". In this article, he summarises the arguments contained in his latest book, "The State to Come". He discusses six stakeholding propositions: the same value systems apply in employment and other spheres of life; macroeconomic policy needs to tighten the demand for labour; a market economy needs democratic institutions that generate social capital, particularly trust; businesses function best on the basis of internal commitment and trust; "intermediate institutions" like universities need to generate social capital and provide a long-term perspective; and systems of social insurance and distribution of risk must be fair and inclusive.